Carding machine



April 16, 1957 E. L. KAUFMAN ET AL CARDING MACHINE Filed June 11, 1952 United States Patent CARDING MACHINE Elbert L. Kaufman, Cincinnati, and Robert J. fipellmire, Sharonville, Ohio, assignors to The Stearns (l5 Foster Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application June 11, 1952, Serial No. 292,841

6 Claims. (Cl. 19-106) This invention relates to the carding of textile fibers and is directed particularly to a high speed machine which is capable of carding fibers at a susbtantially greater rate of production than the carding engines which are now available.

The conventional carding machine is used in the textile industry for the purpose of disentangling and separating fibers from the state in which they are commingled when raw or partially prepared, and comprises a cylinder of substantial diameter, for example, approximately three to four feet, which has a multiplicity of teeth or wires called clothing projecting from its surface. The fibers which are to be carded are fed against the Wheel and, as it revolves, the teeth of the clothing catch the fibers, pull them out, and thereby straighten them while generally separating those which are intermingled and entangled.

Following this treatment, it is requisite to disengage the carded fibers from the clothing. This is accomplished by a dofier roll which is arranged substantially tangential to the carding wheel. The dofler roll also has teeth upon its periphery which perform a carding action, but it operates at a considerably slower rate of speed than the main carding wheel and acts principally to lift the fibers from the carding wheel and carry them adjacent the tips of the teeth on the dotier clothing. A vibrating comb is used, in turn, to separate the fibers from the clothing on the doifer wheel and thereby discharge them from the apparatus in the form of a web.

In addition to these elements, various sets of worker and stripper rolls or bars may be placed adjacent the periphery of the carding wheel between the feed area and the doffer for the purpose of exerting carding action upon the fibers, which is supplemental or additional to the carding action which occurs at the feed area. A worker roll lifts fibers from the latter and thereby cards them, while a cooperating stripper roll functions to remove fibers from the teeth of the worker and redeliver them to the teeth of the carding wheel for delivery to the doffer.

All tooth elements of the apparatus are arranged closely adjacent one another and, in continued operation of a carding engine, certain fibers which are not removed from the teeth become caught and impacted therein so that eventually the machine must be shut down for a general cleaning and removal of collected fibers from the clothing on the various wheels and rolls. The rapidity with which the clothing becomes clogged depends upon such factors as the angulation or shape of the teeth and the speed ratios of the rolls, as well as the rate at which cotton is fed to the apparatus to be carded. While various improvements have been proposed which have enabled carding engines to be run without shutdown for cleaning for considerably longer periods of time than was originally the case, still, the doffing of the fibers is the limiting production factor, and rate of production cannot be increased by merely utilizing a greater feed rate. Thus, clogging of the clothing and the loss of production 2,788,547 Patented Apr. 16, 1957 time while a machine is being cleaned seriously limit the output of carding engines or the most modern designs known heretofore.

the principal objective of this invention has been to provide a machine which is capable of carding fibers at a substantially greater rate of production than is possible with conventional carding engines, and of carding the fibers in such manner that clogging of the card clothing is substantially eliminated. Otherwise expressed, the present invention is directed to a carding engine which is capable of self-discharging carded fibers from its clothing without the use of a doft'er roll and comb and without requiring periodic shutdowns for recleaning purposes.

A further objective of the present invention has been to provide a machine capable of separating and disentangling the commingled fibers of a lap or feed stream and of delivering them in a separated condition onto a. surface wherein the fibers are laid one on top of another in heterogeneous directions for the formation of a bat. Fibers carded in conventional apparatus are arranged predominantly in parallel relation, and nonwoven fabrics which are produced from bats of fibers carded in such manner possess good tensile strength only in the direction in which the fibers are laid longitudinally in parallelism; such fabrics possess little or no strength in the transverse direction. Non-woven fabrics produced by the carding of fibers in accordance with the present invention possess high tensile strength both longitudinally and transversely. The present invention, therefore, is adapted particularly for use in the preparation of such non-woven fabrics, as Well as in the production of bats and webs adapted to be used for other purposes including spinning.

The invention, briefly, is predicated upon several concepts and determinations which, to our knowledge, have not previously been recognizedor employed in this art. We have discovered, firstly, that a carding wheel is capable of centrifugally discharging carded fibers which it has picked up from a lap if the wheel is driven at a sufficicntly high rate of speed in relation to its diameter. Most carding wheels in conventional engines range from approximately 2 to 4 feet in diameter and they are rotated at a relatively low rate of speed in order to facilitate pickup of the fibers by the dotier roll. If the speed of rotation of such Wheels vastly is increased, then fibers will be flung from its surface by centrifugal force even though the card clothing actually is angulated in the direction of rotation. Yet the operation of a wheel of large diameter at a rate of speed sufficiently high to accomplish this result involves such mechanical difiiculties that it is impractical to attempt commercial operation of the apparatus in such manner. We have determined, however, that the same result can be obtained without incurring severe vibrational and mechanical design problems by substantially reducing the size of the carding wheel. This change, for a given rate of rotation, provides a relative increase in the centrifugal discharging effect. Machines of the present invention may embody a main carding cylinder as small as 12 to 14 inches or even less, i. e., the diameter may be /2 or A the diameter of conventional wheels, depending upon the rate of production which is intended.

Secondly, the invention is based upon the determination that rotation of a carding cylinder of small diameter at a high rate of speed induces a movement of air which tends to follow the wheel periphery. The card clothing, acting somewhat like a blower propels adjacent air, hence a carding wheel which is in high speed rotation is surrounded by an air stream moving at a somewhat slower but significant velocity. We have discovered, specifically, that this moving field of air or generated windage, can, by means of a bafiie arranged adjacent the carding wheel periphery, be directed through the clothing,

and design.

thence outwardly therefrom to cause the discharge from the clothing of carded fibers which would otherwise be retained therein. For example, to utilize this principle in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a

battle is arranged in a generally tangential relation to the carding wheel periphery at the area thereof from which the fibers are to be discharged pneumatically in the manner just discussed.

The moving field of air accompanying the carding wheel periphery impinges upon the bafile which extends across its path, and a pressure area is created between the bafiie and the carding cylinder. Apparently, air escapes from this area of increased pressure (which, of course, is being constantly supplied with more air following the carding wheel) by movement under pressure through the card clothing on the cylinder, thence outwardly therefrom. The significant discovery is that such movement of air is sufiiciently vigorous to sweep with it the fibers which are caught upon the clothing.

Paradoxically, the fibrous swept from the clothing in this manner are not recaught in the induced air stream but escape the wheel environment and may be deposited conveniently upon a collecting wheel, traveling belt, or other suitable device. Perhaps the explanation for this result resides in the fact that the pressure area between the battle and the carding wheel prevails for a distance sufiiciently ahead of the baffie to prevent the fibers from entering the area where they might otherwise be trapped between the wheel and baffle. At any rate, pneumatic discharge of the fibers by the effect of the baflle causes the fibers once liberated, to be arranged heterogeneously,

'and so contributes to the production of a bat which has good strength in both its longitudinal and transverse directions.

In the preferred utilization of the invention, both the principle of centrifugal discharge and the principle of pneumatic discharge of carded fibers are employed; that is, some fibers are flung from the wheel by centrifugal force in virtue of its high rotational speed, and those not so discharged are swept pneumatically from the clothing.

In this manner, the battle acts as a final cleansing device which leaves the clothing free of fibers as it moves on toward the feed station where a lap of uncarded fibers is fed to the clothing.

The carding of fibers is, in part, governed by the extent to which the fingers of the clothing catch the matted fibers and draw them out individually and in separated condition. This, in turn, is governed by the radial and lateral spacing of the fingers, the rate at which the fiber is fed to the clothing, and the relative speed of the carding wheel. Since the wheel rate is very high in the prac tice of the present invention, the number of fingers working on a unit weight of uncarded fiber is proportionately high; therefore, production is inherently increased without sacrifice of carding quality even though the carding wheel diameter is decreased below the size conventionally used. Actually, however, the production rate at which the machines of the present invention satisfactorily may be operated far exceeds the rate which the ratio just discussed might indicate. For instance, a carding wheel approximately 12 inches in diameter, operated at 1800 R. P. M., in accordance with the present invention is capable of carding as much as times more fibers than a wheel 50 inches in diameter, operated at approximately 165 R. P. M. in accordance with conventional practice From these considerations, it is apparent that the present invention enables fibers to be carded at a rate which is unexpectedly much higher than heretofore has been possible.

Other objectives of the invention and the manner in which they are accomplished are discussed in fuller detail in the following description of the drawings illustrating a machine embodying the principles of the invention.

The figure of the drawings is a schematic cross sectit the periphery of the main carding wheel 1.

tional view through a carding engine of the present invention showing the relationship of the various rolls and elements by means of which fibers are fed, carded, and discharged.

The present invention is adapted to be used in the carding of various types of fibers, both natural and synthetic and mixtures thereof, but is disclosed particularly in relation to the carding of cotton fibers, as in the manufacture of cotton bats and wadding, and particularly in the manufacture of batting material which is adapted to be consdlidated under pressure in the presence of a binding medium so as to produce non-woven textile fabrics for various purposes.

In the apparatus illustrated in the drawings, the main carding wheel or cylinder is indicated generally at 1. It comprises a metal drum as long as is required to accommodate the greatest width of batting which it is desired to produce. The cylinder is provided with an axle 2 which is journalled in suitable bearings in a conventional manner. The wheel is driven from a suitable power source in any conventional manner.

Carding wheel 1, on its peripheral surface, carries card clothing indicated generally at 3. The clothing may be any one of the various conventional types which are commonly used for carding purposes.

A feed Wheel 4, supported from a suitably journalled axle 5, is mounted so that its periphery resides adjacent The feed wheel 4 is equipped with suitable clothing indicated generally at 6, and it cooperates with a feed bar 7 which is positioned stationarily adjacent the carding wheel periphery following the feed Wheel in relation to the direction of rotation of the carding cylinder.

The feed wheel and feed bar delineate a nip 3 into which a picker lap or other suitable feed stream of fibers to be carded may be introduced. in rotation of the carding wheel, the uncarded fibers in the feed stream are drawn out by the fingers of card clothing so as to be carded thereby. The feed bar has an arcuately contoured portion 9 following its lead edge, which is spaced from, but complementary to, the periphery of wheel 1 so as to prevent escape of fibers from the carding Wheel in the period while the fibers are being acted upon by the clothing'teeth.

Following the feed bar 7, a plurality of one or more pairs of stripper and worlrer rolls l0 and 11 are arranged adjacent the carding wheel periphery; the function of these is discussed at a later point.

In advance of the feed roll 4, discharge baffle member 12 is mounted stationarily, the trailing edge, 13, of the bafiie being arranged closely adjacent the carding wheel periphery while the leading edge, 14, of the bafile is spaced outwardly from the carding wheel periphery. In the construction shown, the face of the baffle between the trailing and lead edges 13 and 14 resides approximately in tangential relationship to the carding wheel and so forms a wedge shaped area with the carding wheel periphery. The baffle, 12, during high speed rotation of the carding wheel, constitutes the means by which carded fibers carried by the wheel at this point are stripped pneumatically therefrom. At the far side of the bathe, a collector member 15 is mounted. This may be in the form of a drum rotatably supported on an axle l6 and the periphery or surface of the collector 15 being constituted by screen wire, perforated metal, or other material. through which an air stream may move freely. The collector 15 is driven in the direction of the arrow in any suitable manner.

A supplemental collector drum E7 is also preferably utilized, the latter being rotatably mounted on an axle 18. Drum 1'7 may have a solid metal surface, and may be driven at about the same peripheral speed as the drum 15, both being so positioned that their peripheries reside adjacent one another to provide a nip area indicated generally at 29, For accommodating the carding of fibers of diiferent kinds at different rates of production, or for producing bats of various thicknesses, drums and 1.7,

or either one, may be adjustably mounted so that the spacing between their peripheries can be varied to suit requirements. Inasmuch as journals, drives, journal adjustability, wheel or roll construction and the mounting of card clothing all involve only mechanical details which are well understood by those who are skilled in the art, these details have been omitted from the drawing and specification for the sake of simplicity in the description.

When carding wheel 1 is rotated at a sufficiently higi rate of speed, some of those fibers which have been picked up by it at the .feed station will be flung contrifugally from its surface. The point or area at which the fibers will escape the clothing will depend on its speed of rotation, and upon the rate at which fibers have been feed or the extent to which the fibers have become submerged within the depths of the card clothing. Because of the angular velocity with which the fibers leave the drum when they are centrifugally discharged, they follow a generally well defined path, and it is intended that the collector wheels 15 and trap wheel 17 be so located in relation to the point of discharge of the fibers from the carding cylinder that one or both of them reside at least partially across this path. Thus, by way of illustration in the drawings, the fibers are shown leaving the drum surface under centrifugal impetus at the area extending from points A to B which are noted thereon, and the face of the air pervious screen cylinder 15 extends generally across the tangential path leading from the AB area. Therefore, fibers which are discharged centrifugally from the carding cylinder will be caught by the collector wheel 15, or between the collector wheels .15 and 17, and will be discharged therefrom as a bat 21.

In high speed rotation of the carding wheel 1, the am bient air, being acted upon by the carding fingers, tends to follow the drum and swirl with it. Even though a majority of the carding wheel periphery is blanketed or obstructed, as by stripper and worker rolls, 10, 11, or the like, the air movement will be induced in any of those areas which are unobstructed. Just as each cardingfinger will catch upon a fiber and carry it along, so will-each carding finger tend to drag with it any air which is adjacent the carding wheel periphery. The velocity which this induced stream of air attains will be less than the surface speed of the carding wheel, but even so, the velocity of the induced stream becomes appreciable when the drum itself is rotated at a high rate.

When the velocity stream of air accompanying the carding wheel periphery encounters bafiie 12, its escape is restricted since the trailing edge 13 of the bafiie resides closely adjacent the carding wheel periphery, and the air enters the wedge shaped area under the dynamic pressure of the air stream so as to create a static pressure of substantial magnitude therein. From this area, air is found to sweep outwardly past the leading edge 14 of the baffle and is found to carry fibers with it which were not previously discharged by centrifugal action. In order to accomplish this result, it appears that the air must have swept outwardly from the root areas of the card clothing or otherwise it could not wash the fibers from the clothing. in any event, the clothing, after it leaves the trailing edge 13 of the bafiie, is substantially free or" fibers, whereas the clothing approaching the bathe may carry a substantial quan tity of fibers depending on the feed rate and the extent to which speed of the wheel previously has caused fibers to be discharged centrifugally. Those fibers which are washed from the clothing by the baffle action enter the stream of fibers which are moving toward the collector roll 1 and thereby become deposited with them on the surface of the roll 15.

It is to be noted that the supplemental drum 1'7 is spaced from the carding Wheel periphery and thereby delineates a throat, indicated generally at 22, through which the induced air stream must pass. Whether or not this throaLtollowed by an enlarged area bet-ween the drums 15 and 17, provides a venturi effect is not known. However, we believe itis quite important to utilize a collector member which is open or porous so that the air entering the area between the drums l5 and 17, the carding wheel and discharge bafile 12 may be permitted freely to escapewith minimum buildup of air pressure at that point. It is desirable, therefore, that the drum 15 be of open work structure, so as to permit air flow while obstructing carded fibers. The rear portion of the baflle 12 is preferably sutficiently broad to extend to a point adjacent the periphery of drum 15 and thereby bridge any gap between the carding wheel and collector member so as to prevent fibers from being blown past the far side of the bafile opposite the carding cylinder.

When a carding etfect supplemental or additional to that obtained at the feed bar of the apparatus is desired, one or more pairs of stripper and worker rolls, 10, 11, may be employed. These rolls are of the type conventionally used in carding engines and operate in the same manner. The stripper roll 10 of each pair is rotatably mounted on an axle 23, and its periphery is clothed as at 24, the cloth ing extending into close proximity to the clothing on carding wheel 1. The worker roll 11 of each pair is rotatably mounted on an axle 25 and it carries clothing 26. Each worker roll is so positioned that the clothing thereof is in close proximity to the clothing of the carding wheel and that of the adjacent stripper. The worker and stripper rolls of each pair are rotated by suitable means in counter- .direction to the rotation of the carding wheel, but the worker rolls are driven at a slower rate than the stripper rolls in such manner that fibers collected from the surface of the carding wheel by the workers are subjected to additional carding action, then redeposited upon the carding wheel by the stripper members.

It will be seen from the foregoing discussion that high speed rotation of the carding wheel enables feed rate to be increased, and also enables the discharge of carded fibers ata rate .sufiicient to accommodate the increased feed rate. In order that those skilled in the art may understand the intended meaning of the term high speed, the following example of a typical embodiment of the invention is given by way of illustration but not by way of limitation.

The carding wheel 1 may be twelve inches in gross diameter and operated at a speed of approximately 1800 R. P. M. T he strippers and workers may be three inches in diameter, operated respectively at approximately 60 and 15 R. P. M., and the feed roll may be approximately three inches in gross diameter. The speed of the feed roll is, of course, governed by the production rate at which the machines are to be operated. The diameters of collector roll 15 and the supplemental or trap roll 37 are not critical, nor are the speeds at which they are rotated. The speed of these rolls will, of course, govern the rate at which collected fibers are removed from the apparatus and, therefore, the thickness of the produced bat. The bats produced in such apparatus are of self-sustaining nature even when as thin as /3 ounce per square yard, and may be as thick as desired, depending upon the rate at which rolls 15 and 17 are operated.

Aside from the carding function of the apparatus, it provides a cleaning or separating function if fibers containing dirt, threads, heavy particles, or the like are being treated. The high peripheral speed of the carding cylinder 1 imparts sufficient velocity to the mass of material that the particles of greater mass are thrown centrifugally from the wheel in advance of the stream of fibers which are also centrifugallydischarged. Thus, as shown in the drawing, particles of thread, seed, or the like depart centrifugally from the wheel generally along paths indicated by the dotted lines C, and thereby become separated from the carded fibers. The heavier particles which are discharged in this manner fly across the stream of air which is induced by carding wheel rotation and may be caught, collected, or allowed to accumulate in any suitable manner.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. A carding machine comprising a carding cylinder having card clothing-on its periphery, means for feeding fibers to be carded to said clothing, a collector cylinder which is permeable to air flow positioned adjacent the periphery of said carding cylinder in spaced relation to said feeding means, means for rotating the said carding cylinder at a rate of speed which is sufficiently high to cause fibers to be discharged centrifugally therefrom onto the said surface of said collecting cylinder, and also to produce a high windage how of air which tends to accompany the periphery of said carding cylinder by virtue of its high rate of rotation, and a stationary bar positioned between said collecting-cylinder and the said carding cylinder tangentially with respect to said cylinder for battling the air stream induced by cylinder rotation whereby air under pressure is caused to flow through the clothing on the cylinder in a direction counter to the direction of rotation thereof for stripping fibers from said clothing which have not been discharged therefrom centrifugally.

2. A carding machine comprising a carding cylinder having card clothing on its periphery, means for rotating the said carding cylinder at a rate of speed which is sufficiently high to centrifugally discharge some carded fibers therefrom and also suificiently high to produce a windage stream of air tending to accompany the periphery of said carding cylinder, means for feeding uncarded fibers to said carding cylinder, a battle bar positioned adjacent the carding cylinder periphery in advance of said feeding means, for directing the windage flow of air which is induced about the carding cylinder periphery by virtue of its high speed in a counter direction through said card clothing, the rate of rotation of said cylinder provided by said rotating means being sufficiently high to cause a stream of air to move from said bafile bar through the roots of the clothing on said cylinder to discharge fibers pneumatically from the said clothing, and a continuously moving collector member which is pervious to flow of air positioned to catch fibers which are discharged pneumatically and centrifugally from said carding cylinder.

3. A carding machine comprising a carding wheel having card clothing at its periphery, a feeder for delivering a lap of uncarded fibers to said clothing, means for rotating the said wheel at a rate of speed which, in relation to its diameter, is sufficiently high to cause carded fibers to be discharged therefrom centrifugally during wheel rotation, a collector wheel having a perforated surface arranged generally in the path of fibers discharged centrifugally from said carding wheel, and a stationary baflle bar installed between the periphery of the collector wheel and the carding wheel in advance of the said feeder, for causing the reversal, through the card clothing, of the flow of air which is induced by high speed carding wheel rotation, whereby carded fibers not centrifugally discharged from s aid clothing are stripped from the clothing by the said air flow therethrough and are caused to commingle with the centrifugally discharged fibers and become deposited heterogeneously on the surface of the said collector wheel.

4.- A carding machine, comprising a rotatable cylinder having card clothing on the periphery thereof, means for feeding fibers to the cylinder periphery for carding of the fibers by the clothing upon the rotation of said cylinder, an air permeable collector member spaced from the periphery of the cylinder but positioned to catch fibers projected centrifugally therefrom, a stationary bafile bar positioned intermediate the said carding cylinder and collector member and having its edges residing closely adjacent the periphery of the carding cylinder and the said collector member so as to form an air wedge with the carding cylinder upon rotation of the same, and means for rotating the said carding cylinder at a rate of speed sufficiently high to cause the same to generate by windage an air pressure at said air wedge which is effective to strip fibers from the clothing on said cylinder and cause the same to be carried thereby to said collector member along with fibers projected centrifugally from said carding cylinder.

5. A carding machine, comprising a rotatable cylinder having card clothing on the periphery thereof, means for feeding fibers to the cylinder periphery for carding of the fibers by the said card clothing upon rotation of said cylinder, an air permeable collector member spaced from the periphery of said cylinder but positioned to catch fibers projected therefrom, means bridging the space between the periphery of said cylinder and said collector member, including a baffle member positioned with respect to the periphery of said carding cylinder to form an air wedge therewith upon rotation of said cylinder, and means for rotating the said cylinder at a rate of speed sufficiently high to cause the same to generate by windage an air pressure at said air wedge which is effective to strip fibers from the clothing on said cylinder and cause the same to be carried thereby to said collector member.

6. A method of producing unwoven fibrous fabrics from uncarded fibers, which method comprises, rotating a carding cylinder having card clothing upon its periphery at a rate of rotation which is sufliciently high to cause the carding cylinder to generate a pronounced windage stream of air circumferentially accompanying the periphery of the carding cylinder, feeding uncarded fibers to said cylinder for carding of the fibers by the clothing thereon and, removing fibers from the clothing by diverting the generated windage stream of air abruptly from its circumferential path into a path through. the roots of the said card clothing and-generally in counterflow direction to the direction of rotation of said cylinder, thence outwardly therefrom whereby carded fibers are stripped from said clothing by said diverted air stream, continuously causing said fibers to deposit in the form of an unwoven layer, the said generated windage stream being diverted at an area which is located, wtih respect to the rotation of said cylinder, at an area adjacent, but in advance of, the area at which uncarded fibers are fed to said cylinder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 535,976 Campbell Mar. 19, 1895 729,632 Mills June 2, 1903 889,461 Haskell et a1 June 2, 1908 1,553,643 Steele Sept, 15, 1925 1,834,309 Harney Dec. 1, 1931 2,451,915 Buresh Oct. 19, 1948 2,478,148 Wilson Aug. 2, 1949 2,589,008 Lannan Mar. 11, 1952 2,619,151 Sheidley Nov. 25, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 423,609 France Apr. 22, 1911 528,727 Great Britain Nov. 5, 1940 

